Car-roof.



i. E. OBRIEN a C. HARTER.

CAR RooFx APPLICATION FILED MAY I3, 1'916.

Patented Aug. 7, 191'?.v

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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J, E. OBRIEN @L C. HRTER.

lCAR ROOF.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I3. 1916.

atened- Aug. 1917.

S H EET 2.

2 SHEETS- JOI-IN E. OBRIEN .AND CHARLES HARTER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CAR-ROOF.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

Application filed May 13, 1916. Serial No. 97,285.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN E. OBRIEN and CHARLES HARTER, citizens of the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car-Roofs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

Our invention relates to car roofs of the type disclosed in Patent No. 1,154,425, issued to us September 21, 1915, the principal 0bject of our present invention being to generally improve upon and simplify the con struction of the roof forming the subjectniatter of said patent, and further to provide a construction wherein the running-board supports or saddles are constructed so as to receive the outer roof covering without necessitating the cutting or forming of holes therein, and consequently permitting the use of an outer covering which is formed in a single piece wholly devoid of seams orjoints. Further objects of our invention are to generally improve upon and simplify the construction of the running-board and to arrange the ele-ments thereof so that they can be readily combined with a one-piece outer roof covering; further to provide means for firmly securing the edges of the one-piece outer covering to the fascia plates of the car body, and further to provide reinforcing caps which underlie the one-piece roof covering at the corners of the roof structure.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, our invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described,

claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of a car roof constructed in accordance with our 1nvention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of our v roof and illustrating the construction of the running-board.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section taken approximately on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is an end elevational view of the upper portion of a car body, the same being equipped with a modified form of our improved roof.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the corner of a car roof of our improved construction.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged'detail section taken on the line 8 8 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged vertical section taken approximately on the line 10-10 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of one of the reinforcing caps which is applied to the corner of the modified form of our roof.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged detail section illusf trating one of the clamping devices for the edge of the outer covering of the modified form of our roof.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, and particularly the construction ofthe roof illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, 10 designates the side sheathing of an ordinary freight car, 11 the top side plates thereof, 12 the fascia. plates, 13 the end plate, 14 the roof boards, and 15 the ridge pole, all of which parts are of ordinary construction.

Applied to the upper portion of the fascia plates at the sides andv ends of the car is an ordinary half-round molding strip 16.

Our invention contemplates a runningboard supporting framework which is applied directly on top of the boards and extends the entire length of the car, said framework including a series of longitudinally disposed strips or rails 17, the same lying parallel with'each other and secured directly to the roof-boards on opposite sides of the ridge pole 15. and arranged between these longitudinally disposed strips or rails and suitably spaced apart are transversely disposed strips 17a. i

The roof covering contemplated by our invention comprises a comparatively thin body 18 of self-hardening plastic material in which is embedded a reinforcing element V19, preferably in the form of wire fabric having a comparatively small mesh, although textile material, such as burlap or canvas, can be advantageously used. The

self hardening plastic material utilizedkin the formation of our improved roof may be composed of various combinations of ingredients, it only being necessary that said material be practically water and weather proof and flexible to a certain degree when dry, and in experiments and practice we have obtained satisfactory results in the use of a compound ordinarily known as roofers cement, the same being a mixture of powdered or pulverized asphalt, powdered or pulverized asbestos, crude oil, and a suitable drier such as japan. In some instances it may be found desirable to include with the above mentioned mixture, a certain per cent. or ordinary Portland cement.

The roof covering is made in a single piece of sufficient size to cover the entire roof of the car and the edges of said covering are extended downward over the molding strips 15, said edges being attached to the fascia plates in any suitable manner.

When the covering is applied to the roof, it is, of course, necessary to form short vertically disposed bends 2O which lie immediately against or adjacent to the outer sides of the longitudinally disposed strips 16 and the central portion of said covering designated by v21 overlies the framework comprising the rails 17 and 17 a.

.In the manufacture and application of our improved roof covering it may be found advantageous to form said covering separately fromthe car and to apply it after the roof boards have been placed in proper position, in which instance, it will be necessary to permit the plastic material to become set and hardened before the covering is applied. It may, however, be desirable to form Vthe covering directly on the roof boards,v and where such procedure is carried out, a layer of thin paper is positioned directly on the roof boards and yover the framework comprising the rails 17 and 17a, after which one or more comparatively thin coatings of self-hardening plastic material are laid directly on said paper.

The single section of wire fabric or textile is now placed on the coating of plastic material, and one or more 'coats of said plastic material are now applied, thereby embedding the section of fabric or textile in the lplastic body of the covering. The edges of the covering are brought down and attached to the fascia plates, said 'edges being finished with oneor more coats of the plastic material.

After'the material forming the body of -the covering has become set and hardened,

a very strong and durable roof is provided and as all joints and seams are eliminated, the roof will be entirely dust andY water proof.

vAfter the roof covering has been properly laid, transversely disposed 'strips 22V are secure'dt'o the longitudinally disposed 4Cendirectly upon said covering at points adjacent to said portions 20.

In the modified construction illustrated in Figs. 6 to 12 inclusive, the roof covering 25 is formed in a single piece of suflicient size to cover the entire roof and being composed of a body f self-hardening plastic material in which is embedded a section of wire fabric or textile. ln this construction, each running board saddle comprisesl an inner llower section 26 whichris directly applied to the roof boards, and an outer upper portion 27 which receives the members 28 formthe running board. i is shaped to conform to the pitch of the roof boards adjacent to the ridge and the central portion ofthe roof covering 25 is pressed upwardly to form comparatively shallow pockets 29 which accommodate the lower portions 26 of the saddles. The upper portions 27 are applied to the tops of theI pockets 29 directly over the lower members 26 and the two parts of the saddle are secured to each other and to the roof boards in any suitable manner. I

The edges of the roof covering 25 are eX- tended downward over the fascia plates at the sides and ends of the car andv applied to the lower ends of said edges are halfround metal strips 30 which are clamped between pairs of anchoring plates 31 and which latter are secured in any suitable'man ner to the fascia plates.

In this construction, the corners of the roof structure are preferably rounded slightly and applied thereto beneath the roof covering 25 are corner caps 32, preferably constructed of the same material as said roof covering, and `which caps serve to reinforce the covering at the corners of the roof. When this formof roof covering is applied, the corner portions thereof are folded downward over the corner caps, as illustrated in Fig. 7, thus obviating the necessity of cutting the covering in order to make the same fit smoothly over said corner caps.

Our improved construction entirelyv eliminates the formation of soldered or nailedy joints which are essential in the formation of sheet metal car roofs, and by forming a one-piece roof, leakage resulting from loose 'or ruptured joints, is entirely done away with. Y

The lower part 2G i..

It will be understood that the roof portion of a car is subjected not only to horizontal movement independent of the superstructure, but to twisting and torsional movements resulting from the service strains and vibrations imparted to the car body and which movements naturally aifect the roof covering.

Where the covering is made in sections, the joints between the same readily open under uneven movement imparted to said covering, but by virtue of our improved construction, the entire covering, being flexible to a certain degree, can readily yield and give in any direction with the result that the life or time of service of a roof of this construction is much greater than a sectional or jointed roof. Further, the cracks between the joints of a sectional roof serve as collecting points for moisture, cinders, dirt and the like with the result that rust and decay takes place, but these objectionable features are entirely eliminated where one-piece roofs of our improved construction are used.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of our improved car roof can be made and substituted for those` herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of our invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

l. In a car roof, the combination with roof boards of a running board saddle supporting framework applied to said roof boards, which framework comprises longitudinally disposed rails arranged on the roof boards to the sides of the ridge pole and transversely disposed rails arranged between said longitudinally disposed rails, a roof covering overlying said roof boards and framework, which covering comprises a section of fabric of sufficient size to cover the entire roof and a body of self-hardening plastic material in which said fabric is embedded, said covering being provided with a centrally arranged longitudinally extending inverted channel-shaped portion which, when the covering is applied to the roof, overlies the running board supporting framework, running board saddles positioned on the roof covering above the framework, and running boards applied to said saddles.

2. In a car roof, the combination with roof boards of a running board saddle supporting framework applied to said roofl boards, which framework comprises longif tudially disposed rails arranged on the roof boards to the sides of the ridge pole and transversely disposed rails arranged between said longitudinally disposed rails, a roof covering overlying said roof boards and framework, which covering comprises a section of fabric of suliicient size to cover the entire roof and a body of self-hardening plastic material in which said fabric is embedded, said covering being provided with a centrally arranged longitudinally extending inverted channel-shaped portion, which, when the covering is applied to the roof, overlies the running board supporting framework, running board saddles positioned on the roof covering above the framework, running boards applied to said saddles, and facing strips applied to the outer edges of the side members of the running boards.

3. In a car roof, the combination with roof boards, of a running board supporting framework positioned on said roof boards, which framework comprises longitudinally disposed rails extending the length of the car roof and arranged on opposite sides of the ridge thereof and transversely disposed rails connecting said longitudinally disposed rails, a composition roof covering formed in a single piece of sufficient size to cover the entire roof, said covering being provided with a centrally arranged longitudinally extending inverted channel-shaped portion which, when said covering is applied to the roof, overlies the running board supporting framework, and a running board applied to that portion of the roof covering which overlies said framework.

4. In a car roof, the combination with roof boards, of a running board supporting Vframework positioned on said roof boards,

which framework comprises longitudinally disposed rails extending the length of the car roof and arranged on opposite sides of the ridge thereof and transversely disposed rails connecting said longitudinally disposed rails, a composition Vroof covering formed in a single piece of suflicient size to cover the entire roof, said covering being provided with a centrally arranged longitudinally extending inverted channel shaped portion which, when said covering is applied to the roof, overlies the running board supporting framework, running board saddles applied to that portion of the roof covering which overlies the framework, running boards positioned on said saddles, and facing strips depending from the outer edges of the outer pair of running boards.

5. In a car roof, the combination with roof boards, of a running board supporting framework positioned on said roof boards, which framework comprises longitudinally disposed rails arranged parallel with each other on opposite sides of the ridge of said roof and transversely disposed rails arranged between said longitudinally disposed rails, a composition roof covering applied to said roof boards, said covering being provided with a longitudinally disposed inverted. channel-shaped portion which koverlies the running board supporting framework, the edges of which covering extend downward so as to overlie the upper portions of the car body superstructure, reinforcing strips applied to the lower edges of the downwardly extending portions, and attaching means secured to the car body and engaging said reinforcing strips.

' 6. The hereindescribed car roof comprising roof boards, supports applied to the roof boards at the ridge of the roof, a one piece flexible covering applied to the roof boards and overlying said supports, transversely disposed members positioned on the roof covering above said supports, and running boards positioned upon said transversely disposed members.

7. The hereindescribed car roof comprising roof boards, supports applied to the roof boards at the ridge of the roof, a one piece flexible covering applied to the roof boards and overlying said supports, transversely disposed members positioned on the roof covering above said supports,l running boards positioned upon said transversely Vdisposed members, and facing strips depending from the outer edges of the outer pair of running boards. Y

8. The hereindescribed car roof comprising roof boards, a running board supporting framework positioned on said roof boards, which framework comprises longitudinally disposed rails arranged parallel with each other on opposite sides of the ridge of the roof, and transversely disposed rails connecting said longitudinally disposed rails, a flexible roof covering applied to the roof boards and overlying the running board supporting framework, transversely disposed members positioned on the roof covering above the ruiming board supporting framework, and ruiming boards supported by said transversely disposed members.

9. ln a car roof, the combination with roof boards and a'one piece flexible roof covering of sufficient size to cover the entire roof, which roof covering is provided with a longitudinally disposed centrally arranged inverted channel-shaped portion, a running board supporting framework applied to the ridge portion of the roof beneath the inverted channel-shaped portion of the roof covering, and running boards disposed above the inverted channel-shaped portion of said roof covering. Y

10. In al car roof, the combination with roof boards and a. one piece flexible vroof covering of sufficient size to cover the entire roof, which roof covering is provided with a longitudinally disposed centrally arranged inverted,channel-shaped portion, a running board supporting frameworkapplied to the ridgeportion of the roof beneath the inverted channel-shaped portion of the roof covering, running boards disposed above the inverted channel-shaped portion of said roof covering, and facing strips depending from the outer edges of the outer pair of running boards, the lower portionsv of which facing strips are located to the sides of the inverted channel-shaped portion of the roof covering. In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures, in the presence of two witnesses, this 11th day of May, 1916.

JOHN E. OBRIEN. CHARLES HARTER. Witnesses:

M. P. SMITH, M. A. VHANDEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

